ABSTRACT
The Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) is one of the countries that has decided to “go hard, go early” in fighting the global pandemic by declaring the national lockdown that went into effect from March 25 to April 27, 2020 (under Alert Level 4). This study unpacks how the NZ government has utilized social media to communicate and disseminate regular information related to the pandemic with New Zealanders (NZers) during the national lockdown. This chapter specifically examines NZ’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern’s earlier Facebook live chats pre- and during the national lockdown and the NZ government’s Instagram account, which was established to disseminate the most updated information related to COVID-19 (@uniteagainstCOVID-19). The data were gathered from Arden’s and @uniteagainstCOVID-19’s social media accounts and from NZ national newspapers. Using progressive critical discourse analysis, the study finds that the NZ government’s language selection together with its social media use has functioned as an effective means of communication. Via its communicative discourse, the NZ government has appeared to reduce the perceived gap between the state (the government) and its people. In this way, NZ has demonstrated firm yet compassionate leadership that can be a model for other countries, particularly in tackling an unprecedented global pandemic.
